Confirmation needed: Level 3 quick charge only on the SL?

Does any know where SAE is on the standard ?

 

I asked on Nissan's live chat (which was not live at that time) if there were any plans to make the quick charge standard, arguing that the entire 'electric highway' became moot without it. All I got back was a thank you email and the message that my question was being directed for 'future consideration'.

Darell, when is the iMIEV expected to become available in the US?

 

Oooh. Tough one. The good news is that the car is real, and is being sold in Japan like nobody's business. The bad news... is that we still don't have any real "hard" news on when it'll be available here. My prediction is that it'll be right around when we get a "DC Fast Charger" standard...

I've just asked this question directly of the guy who would know...

 

So... it is almost Tuesday, right?

Here is the USA's first public fast charger - about 18 minutes from my house:
DC fast charger

 

Great ! Thanks for the photos & writeup.

BTW, whats up with those iMiEVs - have they been given out to a few for field test ?

 

darell, that connector looks GIGANTIC... I assume Mitsubishi had something to do with the quick charger at this location...

BTW, you can cleary see the "solar canopy" with Google Earth, and of course the highway (I80) and entrance/exit ramps leading directly to this Park & Ride

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=1820450380780849156&q=Vacaville,+ca,+park+%26+ride&hl=en&cd=1&cad=src:kml_balloon&ei=hQz6S96oCpu0zATV0OmDDg

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?layer=c&cbll=38.349827,-121.986715&cbp=12,,,1,&ved=0CCkQ2wU&sa=X&ei=7RD6S_65Io2MzAS0psy5DQ"]Google Maps[/ame]

 

It's a lot harder for me! I don't like to leave the extension cord plugged into the wall, so I have to plug in and later unplug TWO ends.

 

The official word is Q4 of 2011.

 

Yes... all those iMiEVs are "fleet test" vehicles. We had seven of them in total. Was fun to see.

 

Yup... if you're going to shove 50 kW into the batteries, you need some big contacts!

Yup. Many entities involved (utility, charger mfg, city, car maker). Mitsubishi was the only car maker involved.

 

Darell, do you know what kind of range is expected out of iMiEV in LA04 test ? We are having a bit of discussing about this with Mike Boxwell, here.

My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - 100 miles?

 

When you say it's solar powered, do you mean that all the charging of cars comes from the PVs? Or is it grid-tied for when the charging demand is greater than the PVs can produce?

You mention pushing 50 kW into the cars, and 50 kW as the capacity of the PVs. Which would only handle one car at a time.

Clarification, please?

 

It must be grid tied, because there are multiple chargers at the location, a few of the older paddle chargers, the DC fast charger, a few standard 120V 20A outlets, etc.

Also, we can assume those chargers won't be in use all of the time, so the net-net of the site might still be pretty close to nothing, since the PV is going to produce power during daylight hours, even if none of the chargers are in use...

 

Every charger on site, and every bit of lighting and irrigation is fed with AC power. The PV system is grid-tied, as are the chargers.

It would be silly to have an expensive charger that could only be operated during peak sun time. No... grid tied. All chargers can be used at all times. Even with the new charger in place, we don't expect to have a power bill at this location. Ever year has shown a significant excess power generation since the PV system was installed.

Clearer?

 

My buddy Brad blogs about the site here:
Vacaville, Calif. Gets First Public Electric Car Rapid Charger in U.S. | Hybrid Cars

 

I was just reading something recently, sorry but I forget where, that said why the level 3 charger isn't being included by default. Apparently the (relatively) recently formed industry standards group that has defined the new standards for electric car chargers has only defined the ports for level 1 & level 2 chargers. The level 3 charging port is still up in the air. It makes sense Nissan wouldn't want to include a proprietary plug just to say they have one. Once the level 3 standard is defined they will include it for sure, but retrofitting existing vehicles will logically incur some cost which they'll pass along to you. Hopefully it will be minimal.

Call it the early adopter tax...

 

Yep. Thanks.

 

Just to confuse things more... there will be no L3 port on the Leaf. Or the iMiEV. This port will be called DC Fast Charge. The L1 and L2 are AC inlets. The charger is onboard, and you are just hooking up to a fancy AC power outlet. The car converts the power to DC and charges the batteries. For the Fast Charge port, the inlet is DC already. The charger is offboard. So they decided that calling it L3 would be a bad and confusing move. It'll be a long time before the masses let it go though!

Remember: No Level 3. Now called DC Fast Charge.... unless it is called DC Quick Charge. The choice there is yours.

 

Unless, you are included in the EV Project - in which case you get the EVSE & the level 3 (DC fast charger) port free.

 

Wow! Looking at the images and seeing the charging display....

359 Volts at 67 Amps.